BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart reported better-than-expected comparable store sales gains in the third quarter. The company’s online business was also strong, with net e-commerce sales increasing 50% in the quarter. “We are pleased with the strong results in the quarter across each of our business segments,” Walmart president and chief executive officer Doug McMillon said,

BREA, Calif. — GuruNanda has introduced the GuruNanda Mini Tree, an easy-to-use 100 ml USB diffuser for essential oils that utilizes ultrasonic waves to diffuse the oils for up to four hours. The essential oils together with water form a mist that disperses into the air without heating or compromising the benefits of the oil, according

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart and Lord & Taylor announced Monday that they are teaming up to create a new online fashion destination. The companies said that Lord & Taylor will launch a flagship store on Walmart.com. The online store, expected to launch in spring 2018, will let Walmart.com offer a specialized online experience featuring Lord

BOSTON — A new report from global e-commerce analytics firm Profitero reveals that Amazon may be the current online price leader, but that lead could be slipping as Walmart ramps up its efforts to be price competitive. The study, “Price Wars: A Study of Online Price Competitiveness,” states that Amazon’s prices are typically 11% lower

SHELTON, Conn. — Walmart is the leading venue for sales of household products, according to research by TABS Analytics. Walmart accounts for 16.4% of sales in the $75 billion household products market, TABS revealed in a recent webinar. That compares to 14.9% for food retailers, 9.5% for dollar stores, 9.3% for home improvement stores. E-commerce

Retail jobs are changing, and the arrival of robot “workers” in stores will only accelerate that evolutionary shift. Walmart recently acknowledged that it is testing the use of robots that can move down the aisles of its stores, scanning shelves for out-of-stock items, missing shelf tags or other problems. The robots are said to be

The holiday selling season has arrived, and it promises to be a memorable one for several reasons. A decade after the financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession, the U.S. economy has finally stabilized, with low unemployment and strong growth. Those conditions have led retail industry watchers to predict solid sales increases over the next

NEW YORK — Nielsen announced Thursday that it had been named Walmart’s preferred provider of point-of-sale data, and was expanding its partnership with the giant retailer. Nielsen chief executive officer Mitch Barns shared details of the arrangement during the the company’s Investors Day conference. According to Barns, Nielsen and Walmart are teaming up to create

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Walmart’s Jet.com online retail unit has unveiled a new consumer essentials brand called Uniquely J. More than 50 SKUs are now available for Uniquely J, spanning such categories as coffee, condiments, cleaning, laundry, pantry, paper and food storage. Jet.com said more items will be added to the brand in the coming months

As this issue of MMR was going to press, Walmart was widely reported to be in the midst of serious discussions with Lord & Taylor about bringing the department store operator’s merchandise offerings to walmart.com as part of a larger effort to counter the appeal of Amazon in the battle to win the hearts and

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart is testing the use of robots that can move down the aisles of its stores, scanning shelves for out-of-stock items, missing shelf tags or other problems. The company says the aim is not to reduce the number of employees in its stores, but to use automation to handle tasks that are

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — KISS Products Inc. is expanding retail distribution of its KISS Gold Edition hair appliances and accessories to Walmart and Kroger. KISS said Wednesday that the rollout to the two mass chains builds on KISS Gold Edition’s launch in July exclusively at Amazon.com. The four-product KISS Gold Edition line comes in metallic, matte gold